Our Heroes in The News

Seattle Times

Trio of injured Iraq veterans stands tall on Rainier

By Jack Broom - Seattle Times staff reporter

MOUNT RAINIER -- A sniper's bullet in Iraq in 2006 took Ryan Job's sight, but not his grit, his determination and his love of the outdoors.

All three were in evidence as the 27-year-old former Navy SEAL from Issaquah became one of three current or former servicemen, severely injured in Iraq, to reach the top of Mount Rainier on Wednesday with the help of volunteer guides. They returned Thursday afternoon to cheering supporters in the Paradise parking lot.

"Ryan was great," said Micah Clark of Richland, founder of Camp Patriot, the 3-year-old nonprofit that organized the event. "He's so strong. He's just a moose. He just put on his pack and trudged along."

Job, who hiked and backpacked often in his youth but never considered climbing Rainier, said that even without sight, he could sense the majesty of the 14,411-foot peak, especially approaching the summit.

"You can feel the altitude. Everything feels bigger. Everything feels open. There's no sound except the wind. The air is crisper, colder, and you feel like you're on top of everything."

Job was on a rooftop patrol in Ramadi on Aug. 2, 2006, when a sniper's bullet struck the rifle he was holding in front of his face. Pieces of the shattered weapon tore through his face, severing one eye and damaging the nerves of the other, leaving him completely blind.

Also on the Rainier climb were Chad Jukes, 24, an Army Reserve staff sergeant from Logan, Utah, who lost a foot after his vehicle struck an antitank mine in Iraq in December 2006, and Marine Sgt. Joey Martinez, of San Antonio, who was nearly blinded by a roadside bomb in al-Anbar province in 2006.

Martinez said he could see the outlines of shapes, and some colors, on the hike, but not details. Jukes, who used a prosthetic device shaped like a climbing crampon, was able to keep up a good pace on the snowfields.

Job, the most severely disabled of the three, was roped to as many as three guides at once during the most dangerous parts of the climb. On a normal ascent, climbers have as much as 20 feet of rope between them, but with Job, guides were roped just 3 feet away, using the tension on the rope to help signal him where to step. Ryan Job listens to Art Rausch, left, bang his poles together, which helps guide Job down the mountain. Curtis Fawley, right, spots Job from behind.

"Where they told me to put my foot, that's where I put my foot," Job said.

It's unusual -- but not unprecedented -- for a blind person to climb Mount Rainier. Park officials said they didn't know how many sightless people have gone up the mountain, but one 1981 expedition reached the summit with five blind climbers.

This week's 21-member Camp Patriot party took a day longer than many Rainier ascents, starting up the mountain Tuesday, resting at Camp Muir, just above 10,000-foot level that evening, then starting toward the summit about 11 p.m.

The group reached the summit about 8 a.m. Wednesday, then returned to Camp Muir for a second night. On Thursday, Job and the two experienced guides flanking him, Curtis Fawley and Art Rausch, were the final members of the group to reach Paradise, arriving about 2:30 p.m.

Current and former guides from Rainier Mountaineering Inc. and International Mountain Guides donated their services for the event.

Job, who now lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., is studying for a business degree online, assisted by a computer with voice-recognition programming. His younger brother, Aaron, is a Marine reservist who has completed two tours of duty in Iraq. The Seattle Times published a series of stories on the family during Aaron Job's deployments in 2003 and 2004.

Ryan Job said that although the Rainier climb was rigorous, it did not compare to the training he endured to become a Navy SEAL.

"This was a single event. BUDs [SEAL training] went on for months and months." Ryan Job, second from right, was roped to as many as three guides at once during the most dangerous parts of the climb. The group reached Mount Rainier's summit Wednesday morning.

This was the second Rainier ascent for Camp Patriot, which took two injured veterans to the summit last year. The organization also envisions taking disabled veterans fishing, hiking, kayaking and skiing, and is planning a lodge in Montana as a permanent home for some of its adventures.

Clark, the organization's creator, is a 39-year-old former Navy Corpsman who, after his military service, helped train police officers and special-forces units, working in the United States and Afghanistan.

It was on a fly-fishing trip to Montana after returning from Afghanistan that Clark was inspired to form Camp Patriot, which recruits sponsors to help fund its events.

"I felt that if I have this opportunity, so should my brothers and sisters in the military," he said. "I want to help them focus on their abilities, not their disabilities."

Jack Broom: 206-464-2222 or jbroom@seattletimes.com

AZ Republic

Group gives disabled veterans a new start

by Amy Brooks - May. 19, 2008

Ryan Job, a Navy SEAL, lost his sight in Iraq. Donovan Spieth, in Army Special Forces, came home confined to a wheelchair.

They needed help. They got it.

Job, 27, and Spieth, 28, are the first two disabled veterans accepted by Sentinels of Freedom's Arizona chapter, founded in 2007.
The Sentinels help give new starts to disabled veterans.

"They're just fast-tracking a lot and making a lot of things happen," Spieth said. "But the great part about the organization is just the pride of doing it yourself."

The Sentinels appreciate the veterans' motivation.

"The whole idea is not to give them a hand out, it's to give them a hand up," said Howard Lein of ReMax Excalibur, which helped raise about $200,000 to bring Job and Spieth to Arizona.

Sentinels gave Spieth a $25,000 pickup truck with a crane that lifts his wheelchair into the truck bed. Job has an office with a special computer for the blind at ReMax, where he goes several times a week with his dog, Trey, to do online course work.

Spieth and Job are working on bachelor's degrees in business through a distance-learning program.

"The only reason I'm in school now is because the Sentinels forced the VA (Department of Veterans Affairs) to push the paperwork through," Job said.

Job, who wanted to be a pilot, said he's contemplating working in defense.

Spieth said he's learning as much about entrepreneurship as he can. But he said he would like to help other veterans.

"It would be nice to get into that type of work to change a lot of the dead weight that soldiers have to face when they come back," he said.

Previously career military men, Job and Spieth said they were "jumping through hoops," struggling to cut through the VA's red tape.

Job was shot in the face in Iraq, which severed both optic nerves and damaged his right eye socket.

"I go through countless appointments related to surgeries that I need for my eye," Job said. "I have to pay money to fix combat injuries. I think that's unacceptable."

After serving in Iraq, Spieth was sent to Germany, where he was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident. The once-elite soldier can't walk and has limited use of his arms.

Job moved from San Diego to Scottsdale in June with his wife, Kelly, who is a graduate student in nursing.

"The Sentinels program has been great because we would've moved here knowing nobody," Job said. "I would've stayed at my house and worked on my classes for two years. And I would've been a hermit."

Spieth moved to Scottsdale in January.

Lein said the Arizona Sentinels hope to bring in a veteran every two to three months.

While the group has enough mentors, although he said more donors are needed.

Much of the money comes from private donors and corporations that Lein said will ultimately employ the soldiers.

"I think that in the end the real solution is for corporate America to recognize that when these men and women are retrained, they have a probability of being some of the best, most loyal employees," Lein said.

AZ Republic

Blind vet gets donated condo, fresh outlook on life
Michael Ferraresi - The Arizona Republic - Jul. 11, 2007 03:52 PM

As a Navy SEAL fighting in Iraq, Ryan Job could see the dusty streets and war-torn buildings of the Anbar province, until he was shot in the face by a sniper.

Job lost his right eye.

There was some hope for his left eye, but damage to the optic nerve was too great.

Job, 26, was left blind, dashing his dream of becoming a pilot.

After recovering at Veterans Affairs facilities in three different states, and after his discharge from the Navy, he returned to his home near San Diego only to find limited opportunities for work.

Through the support of the national non-profit Sentinels of Freedom Scholarship Foundation, Job is now settling into a donated Scottsdale condo and getting help adjusting to civilian life.

He hopes to finish his bachelor's degree and eventually choose a career.

"I'm not thinking about war anymore," said Job, who is being honored Thursday at a ceremony at Gainey Ranch Golf Club as part of a welcome home fundraiser. "I'm thinking about getting adjusted in Scottsdale and getting a job."

Job, who held the rank of special operator 2nd class, moved to the Valley in recent weeks with his wife, Kelly, after being set up with a local Sentinels of Freedom sponsor.

Sentinels of Freedom started in 2003 in California. The group's founder, Mike Conklin, a father of three Army Rangers, learned about soldiers' life-changing injuries after one of his sons was wounded in Iraq.

The organization helps soldiers - many of them amputees - with four-year scholarships, mortgages, physical rehabilitation and other planning beyond what the federal government provides.

Help to get restarted in life
Job is one of nine wounded soldiers that Sentinels has provided with rent-free homes and other benefits through donations from civic leaders.

The organization, however, has a list of nearly 3,500 struggling veterans nationwide who could use the help. Most of Sentinels' focus is in California.

When Job moved to Scottsdale, he had a network of people waiting to unload boxes, move new furniture and help him find an online college program to complete his bachelor's degree.

A sniper shot Job during an operation in western Iraq on Aug. 2, the same day in which another SEAL was killed. Job, who was positioned on a rooftop, never saw his attacker. He remembers little.

"I could hear (the other SEALs) talking to me, but I was fading in and out," he said. "There's a lot I can't talk about."

Job was evacuated to a U.S. military hospital in Germany. He recently wrapped his rehab at a VA facility in Palo Alto, Calif. after spending time at other facilities in Maryland and Florida.

Despite multiple surgeries, rehabilitation and other services, Job said he is frustrated that the VA was slow to send all his files between different facilities.

"The services they provided me are adequate," Job said. "It's the computer systems, though. Your paperwork might sit on someone's desk for months until you get the services you need."

Developing Scottsdale links
After learning about Sentinels of Freedom, Job got in touch with the group's leaders and was eventually accepted for the scholarship program. His personality and resolve made him the ideal candidate to help launch the organization in Arizona.

Howard Lein, owner of Re/Max Excalibur Realty in Scottsdale and a volunteer team leader with Sentinels, donated his own investment condo near 92nd Street and Redfield Road for the Jobs to live in rent-free until they are prepared to get their own place.

The idea, Lein said, is to join wounded soldiers with volunteers to help them acquire the benefits they are entitled to while also going beyond to help the soldiers advance in everyday civilian life.

"I have my doctors, my attorney, my CPA and my network of business contacts to help him with mentoring, getting a job, that kind of thing," Lein said.

Re/Max helped with start-up costs, he said, but the group wants to establish a regular system for corporations to donate on a monthly basis to help more veterans.

VA response in Valley
Though he is finished with outpatient therapy, Job will soon be registered at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix, where he will be in touch with experts for other needs.

The hospital saw an influx of nearly 4,000 new patients in recent years during the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sentinels of Freedom helps disabled veterans like Job get the care they need both through the VA and elsewhere.

"The fact that they're doing this to help our veterans is a wonderful thing," said Paula Pedene, public affairs specialist for Carl T. Hayden Center. "It just so happens is that the first person they have (in Arizona) is someone like Ryan who was blinded."

The Hayden Medical Center, like other VA hospitals, has two blind specialists who will work with Job to help adapt his home and lifestyle based on the disability.

Job said he is learning a computer screen-reader program that will help him navigate the Web. Navigating an online college course might be more difficult, though.

Despite the challenges, Job said he is confident that his network through Sentinels of Freedom will help ease the transition with everything from learning the public bus routes to setting up business internships.

"I see this going nationwide," Job said. "(Kelly and I) don't want this to be about us. Once I'm back on my feet, we'd like to help the next group of guys make the same transition."

This article appeared on AZCentral.com at http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/0711sr-vet0712-ON.html#

Blog blurb: http://activerain.com/blogsview/145021/-Sentinels-of-Freedom

The Sentinels of Freedom Scholarship Foundation^sm is an IRS Approved 501C3 Non Profit Foundation (documentation available upon request). Our mission is to provide life-changing opportunities for men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces who have recently suffered severe injuries and now need the support of grateful communities to realize their dreams.

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